MAC: Mines and Communities

Themes

Digging for truths about global warming

The 2009 "Copenhagen Accord" on Climate Change represented a massive betrayal; one that can be spelt out in a phrase: "Two Degrees Too many!"

That's the increase in global greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) that most states are now prepared to allow for the forseeable future, even though this threatens devastation of the Asia-Pacific and "death for millions" in Africa.

Even many delegates who refused to sign up to this fraudulent accord didn't have much better to offer. They still pin faith on dubious market mechanisms which carry their own human and ecological toll.

This special web page focuses on critical realities that most governments, and some NGOs, continue to ignore - specifically the global role of coal.

While there are manifold triggers of adverse climate change, coal usage plays a greater role than any other. This is confirmed, not only by the man who "discovered" global warming, but also in a sober scientific study released a month pior to the 2009 Copenhagen summit.

Coal is for burning

The mining and burning of this fossil fuel has now become more vital to electricity generation than oil or gas. Although its use has recently declined in some Northern jurisdictions, elsewhere plans to excavate the "black stuff" are advancing faster than ever before.

This isn't the total "coal toll" by a long shot. Much of its output goes towards the refining and smelting of metals (notably steel) and into firing cement kilns, where their contributions to GGE are highly significant.

Mining coal releases exiguous amounts of methane –23 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2, and the prime cause of underground explosions that kill thousands of workers each year.

The burning of coal is also more egregious to human health than has been generally recognised. Turning coal into liquid fuel (CTL), to serve the growing transportation sector, releases 40 percent more carbon dioxide than oil when burned, according to one scientific report.

Is coal for turning?

This is not to say we can or should ban dependence on coal overnight.

Mines and Communities is acutely aware of the misery that such a precipitate decision would bring to millions. A "just transition" to alternative fuels will take time, but this makes it all the more urgent to embark on such a course right now.